


Rock a bye

by ZziplineE



Series: Childhood heroes [1]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-15 01:19:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19285168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZziplineE/pseuds/ZziplineE
Summary: Dib links a curse that's haunted him for years to someone who was very important to him: a mysterious man who acted as a mentor figure in his life for one year before dissapearing. After 18 years Dib thinks he can finally understand the mysterious man who seemed to just show up out of nowhere and discover what his motives truly were. Maybe with the knowledge of his childhood hero he can finally put his curse to rest or, at the very least, learn where it came from.





	1. Chapter 1

Dib had a distant memory of a mentor of sorts. Well, not so much a mentor, he was more like a butler bodyguard. Yes, both. He was also a babysitter. Actually, he was a lot like a multipurpose necessity that Professor Membrane just kinda kept around. Sometimes, even at the age of six, he would wonder if he was even on his dad’s payroll. Now at the age of twenty four Dib, for some unknown reason had a dream about that incredible multitasking, cookie sneaking, bodyguard butler man.

As an adult he didn’t interact with him as often, but he still saw him everyday.

Everytime he looked in the mirror.

 

“I’m telling you Gaz. I’m almost positive I was Vinn,” he tried to reason with his sister at the breakfast table.

Gaz rolled her eyes, “And how would you, as an adult, have been able to go back in time to take care of us, and why?”

Dib sighed, he asked himself the same question everyday. If he was Vinn then at what point did he decide to go back in time, and did he have a reason? Or would it randomly happen by accident? Should he be worried was another question that crossed his mind more times than he would like to admit. His fear of randomly being dragged into a portal to the past was worsening with each passing day, to be precise, it worsened when he realized exactly how much he looked like a complete clone of Vinn on certain days, which was hastily followed with a sloppy shaving of his growing stubble.

“Even if I don’t have answers to those questions, there’s no way you can possibly think it’s completely normal for a guy who looks just like me and shares our dad’s first name to just randomly show up and take care of us.”

Gaz glared at her brother for a moment before looking down at the table, “Well, why are you dragging this up again?”

Dib hesitated as the symbol on his stomach began burning. In all honesty he brought it up because today felt different. No real scientific or paranormal reason, he just had a hunch. But the symbol on his stomach doing nothing more than dully burning all morning was definitely strange. Maybe that’s why he was so on edge. The pain was different today, it didn’t knock the breath out of him and immobilize him like he was used to.

“I just got a feeling okay?”

He swallowed hoping she wouldn’t ask about the symbol.

The symbol burned into his stomach was a mystery; no one knew how it got there, not even Dib could remember. It was an odd emblem of sorts made out of three shapes. There was a rectangular shape with antenna at the top, his belly button was a second shape, the only way he knew it was supposed to be a shape at all was because the other two shapes framed around it. And the third was an upside down triangle at the very bottom.

As he sat with his sister trying to understand what made today so different he heard the sound of something starting up in his dad’s old lab, him and Gaz shared a look before running to the basement.

Dib felt a pang of fear upon seeing that a machine he had been working on, to try and make time travel a reality, had went off. He hadn’t touched that thing for four years, it was anyone’s guess as to how it started working now.

“Dib, we gotta get that thing off,” Gaz yelled over the whirring of the portal.

“Right,” Dib shouted back, he sounded stiff and awkward. Although, it was better than sounding as scared as he felt he supposed.

He ran to the time travel watch to attempt to shut it down, the manual override button glowing and flickering as he pressed his thumb tight against it.

Nothing...

Dib, tried pressing it again and again, but it was completely stuck, or maybe even broken.

He gathered the watch in his hands, knowing if he threw it in the portal it would close, but before he could throw it a live wire that had sparked the watch to life in the first place landed on his back. Electricity filled his lungs and shocked his voice into a stuttered labored scream. The last thing Dib remembered before passing out was the sound of Gaz screaming for him to wake up.

 

The sound of birds chirping and water hoses running brought Dib back to consciousness at first he thought his house exploded and now he was laying among the remains of it. He opened his eyes to a beautiful blue sky above him. No clouds as there had been before the lab accident.

“Where am I?” Dib muttered as he brought a hand up to rub his head. Firmly clamped between his fingers, he found his time travel watch. Dib began to panic as he go to his feet. His eyes scanned the distance wildly until they landed across the street. He recognized two little kids. One with what his dad called the family feather, and the other with purple hair; both looked all too familiar.

He swallowed the lump growing in his throat, “Why didn’t I shave this morning?”

Dib set that thought aside as he lifted the tattered remains of his trench coat to see the damage. It was completely ruined. He pushed his feeling of hopelessness aside as a thought struck him: there had to be something for him to wear in the house right? With as much stealth as he could muster, he snuck around back and climbed through his dad’s window.

“I’m sure dad-” all his words died as his dad’s security bots zeroed in on him red lasers pointing all over his body before a small “ding” was chirped out of one of them, his name flashed across the screen in VCR text. 

“-has something I can wear,” he finished in a rush and pulled open dresser after dresser before finding something he decided was decent. He adorned a white button up shirt and black bow tie, then, just for the aesthetic, he pulled on a pair of black suspenders and white satin gloves.

“This could work,” he muttered to himself before he realized exactly how hot it was. He wiped his brow with the butt of his ungloved left hand then rolled up his sleeves, they wouldn’t go past his elbows. He shrugged as he slipped the glove on his hand and decided it would look weird if they could anyway. As he walked towards the door to the room he caught a glance of himself in the large mirror that was his father’s closet door.

He felt a wave of sickness was over him; the eyes that stared back at him were that of his childhood hero. To add insult to injury, his symbol began to burn, as if he were being branded. The usual white hot pain he was accustomed to, and just like Vinn used to do: he doubled over in pain to catch his breath.


	2. Chapter 2

Dib walked down the familiar hall of his past, present, and his near future. He pushed his glasses further on his nose, it was more of a nervous fidget rather than him actually needing to keep his glasses on. The fidgeting got worse as he walked closer to the sound of mechanical whirring in the kitchen. 

In the low hanging light sat Professor Membrane, he was hunched over his work. Sweat was beading across his forehead, his brow furrowed in concentration. Dib glanced at the open front door, he didn’t want his younger self, and even younger sister to hear them talking, especially not about this. Anything he did could change his memory of the man Vinn was, even worse, he could cause some sort of time paradox.

“Professor Membrane?” he started, his voice raspy, and words shakey.

The Professor jumped, startled at the voice of a young man in his home. Dib jumped too, his dad’s sudden jerk startling him. 

Professor turned to the older Dib. “Young man how did you-” the voice caught in his father’s throat, before Dib could say anything his father was in front of him, his hands on his shoulders.

“D-Dib? Is that you?” Professor Membrane took Dib’s hands in his own and looked him over.

“Yes exactly! How did you know?” Dib tilted his head to try and meet his dad’s eyes that were glued to their hands.

“How did-? Well of course I would recognize my own son Dib, but how did you-? I mean...”

“I used a time machine to go back in time. By accident I should mention. But, Dad, I have a bigger problem: I don’t exactly have a way to get back to the future. I need to use your lab to fix my time travel watch.”

“Of course you can, but… What about the k-”

“Gaz and I, I know. Dad, can you take a seat and buckle up?”

 

Dibble and Gaz walked into the house. They got bored of playing in the kiddie pool and were just about ready to settle down and watch TV.

“Hey, who’s that weird guy with dad?” Gaz growled, showing one of her hazel eyes.

Dibble turned to Gaz to try and calm her, he didn’t think Gaz tearing into one of his dad’s friends or coworkers would go over well. But he would admit that this new man didn’t look like the company he usually kept. Not to mention he had a weird air about him.

He had a lanky figure with slight muscles, stubble was growing on his jaw, and his half lidded gaze and dark under eyes made him look tired. He was younger than the people his dad usually hung around with. What was he doing here?

“Dib, Gaz, I would like you to meet Vinn,” Professor Membrane’s voice declared.

 

Dib smiled at the two kids. Younger Dib gave a nod to him while Gaz just glared him down. He already expected that much. What he didn’t expect was the symbol on younger Dib’s torso to not be present. There was no sign of the hot-pink brand on young Dib’s torso. He felt his eyes widen, his world felt like it slowed down. For the longest time Dib just believed he was born with his brand, he assumed he always swam with a shirt on, that when he would get out of the shower he was always conditioned to pull a towel over his belly so he wouldn’t have to look at it.

“Hi kids,” he leaned down and shook both of their hands. “When your dad is away I’m gonna be the one taking care of you.”

 

It was Dib’s first day alone with the kids, his dad was at work and he was going to be gone for a few days. No floating computer head this time though, the kids had Vinn to look after them. The longer Dib stayed, the more he took a liking to getting tea for visitors and completing small chores at the house.

He remembered Vinn being the same way, always washing dishes, sweeping, mopping, getting him and his sister snacks, stuff like that. Dib concluded it was probably how normal it felt doing such tasks that allured him.

While he was busy he didn’t think about how he was trapped eighteen years in the past or how his mission went from: ‘find a way home’ to: ‘make sure Dibble doesn’t get branded’.

“Vinn? Can I get some soda?” Gaz asked tugging on his shirt.

"Of course you can," Dib looked over at her and wiped his hands dry with a dish towel that was draped over his shoulder, he slid his gloves back on his hands then sauntered to the fridge and handed Gaz a soda.

She smiled appreciatively while Dib ruffled her hair. Gaz walked out as Dibble walked in, “Vinn, our first day of school is tomorrow, is dad gonna be here for that?”

Dib sucked in air through his teeth and furrowed his brow, "no, Dibble, but I'll be here." Dibble narrowed his eyes at Dib sucking in air to puff out his small chest, "It's Dib… Just Dib."

The young boy turned, shot Dib one more look over his shoulder. Then left.

"I'm getting pretty good at this kid thing!" Dib smiled brightly as he went to the fridge to see what he could make for lunch for his younger self and even younger sister in the morning. Afterall, tomorrow would be Monday, and the cafeteria would be serving corn and mayonnaise.

Wait a minute…

"That's why Vinn was so cool when I was a kid!" An excited smile took his facial features as a light went off in his head. "He- I mean- I remembered what my life was like when I was this age! And I know what makes Gaz happy… I'm a good Vinn!"

He gave another glance around the fridge, "I just have to do what I think I would have wished for if Vinn wasn't around."

He paused, "like talk to myself to normalize it for younger me!... Cause that's why I'm doing it… Maybe Lunchables is the way to go."


	3. Chapter 3

The kids clung tight to his hands as he walked them to their classrooms. The darkened hallways and looming corridors never failed to bring back the irritation he felt since the day he was old enough to realize this was his life.

Dibble seemed to share that irritation. He leaned to Gaz and whispered: "Mood drop, school isn't that great and we're stuck here for twelve years."

Gaz scoffed while Dib gave Dibble a disapproving look.

"Hey, kindergarten isn't so bad," he said, leaning down to turn all his attention to Gaz. "It's actually one of my personal favorite years." The only year he liked actually.

He gave her a smile and a pat on the head, then stood up to take their hands again. The closer he got to having to leave them the faster his heart rate picked up. Finally, they were in front of Gaz's classroom. "Okay Gaz, be a good girl. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Dib reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pack of licorice, he gave two to Gaz and smiled. "Be good," with that he gathered Dibble's hand back in his own and continued the short walk to his classroom.

 

The door was huge, it probably wasn't as big as Dib was seeing it, but it looked big. Even for his 6 foot height. He was frozen, staring at the ominous height of his younger self's classroom. Then he felt his shirt being pulled, he looked down at Dibble, only after seeing the child's concerned expression did he realize he was having a panic attack. Dib forced his breath to slow down then kneeled to face the small boy eye to eye.

"Please be careful Dibble. Don't go anywhere with anyone, stay away from fire, don't go near uh, farms."

Dibble looked at him like he was absolutely nuts, which he might have been. But as long as he had no idea how his brand got there he couldn't properly tell him how to be careful. 

"Y'know what, just stay out of dangerous situations."

"Why didn't Gaz get this talk?" Dibble rolled his eyes as he spoke, his tone exasperated. "I like you Vinn, but you're kinda smothering me."

Dib smiled apologetically and handed Dibble two pieces of licorice, "I just want you to be careful."

Without another word he turned on his heel and left. He kept a fast pace not wanting to look back. He didn't want to end up back in the classroom with Dibble, his own paranoia for all he knew could be the cause of the brand, he just needed to let Dibble do his own thing. Finally, the exit doors were in view at the end of the long dark corridors, just as he took another step the fire alarm and sprinklers went off.

"Kids!" He turned again, his boot sliding to face the direction of the classrooms, he put one foot in front of him before he was doused with the feeling of being covered in boiling water. He fell to his knees and lifted his shirt to see his symbol was glowing. Dib groaned as he tried to stand up, he never tried to fight it like this before and it was making the pain that much worse.

As he struggled it felt like a hot fire poker was being shoved into his stomach. He collapsed again, kids and teachers alike ran by him to get to the exit. Maybe they didn't see him, maybe they just didn't care, whatever the reason, he was grateful he was being left alone. Dib began dragging himself across the floor on his belly, the water beneath him felt frozen while the rest of him was super heated.

He only managed to get a few more feet into the school before the searing on his flesh became too much to bear. He curled in on himself as he felt his mind go to static, he had never passed out from the pain before. Even as his vision went white he tried to stay conscious. He focused on the water hitting his body, on the pain that was keeping him pinned to the floor. Anything that would keep him awake.

It wasn't working.

 

Dibble glared at the floor as he trudged to the entrance, he thought he had more time before Gaz found out she didn't want to be in this place. Clearly not. He couldn't complain though, he did get out of the first day of first grade. Plus, he didn't want to be here either.

As he walked he noticed the janitor's closet pop open. This made him freeze. It was too fast to have just been some momentum or the air vents. He clutched his left hand with his other hand, his knees felt shaky as he got closer to walking past.

"Get a hold of yourself Dib, you're just paranoid because of the way Vinn was acting," he muttered. He had only known him for about a week, but he knew him enough to know he was acting scared. Dibble hadn't seen him scared before, or any adult for that matter.

He shook his head, "for Pete's sake Dib, he told you to stay away from farms… Farms! I think walking by this closet will be fine."

He took the few steps that were required to walk past the janitor's closet, but a hand shot out and grabbed his arm. Dibble's eyes grew wide as he looked into the inky darkness of the closet. Two red eyes with no defining pupil or iris stared back at him.

"Human, what is going on out there?" A soft voice crooned, the tone was gentle enough to make Dibble feel less afraid.

"Um, I think there was a fire," there was no response from the other end, the sound of the water from the sprinklers hitting the ground was becoming deafening the longer he stood there.

Suddenly, the hand tightened it's grip and pulled him into the closet. Before he could even scream a hand clamped down on his mouth and a weird laser scanned over him, after the laser passed over him, he was completely dry.

"There, all dry," the man muttered pulling a cord to the light to turn it on. Dibble felt his eyes go wide and his mouth drop open, his dad always told him that was rude, but he couldn't help it. He looked even taller than Vinn, if Dibble had to guess, he would say 6 feet 6 inches. He was half a foot taller than Vinn. He was green, had antenna, and… Was wearing a dress?

"Wow! You're an alien!" Dibble exclaimed.

The aliens antenna perked at that, "yes, I suppose I am."

Dibble bounced excitedly on the box he was sat on. "Holy cow, I have so many questions!"

Dibble pulled out a small notebook from his back pocket, he opened to the first page before realizing how warped the paper was, "um, forget the book." He dropped the notepad and instead scooted closer to the alien.

The alien smiled and held in a laugh, his top teeth biting down on his bottom lip. "Zipper," Dibble blurted. 

The alien gave him a questioning glance before waving a hand at him, "please continue with the questions."

"Oh, alright! So, um, there are other species of alien out there right? It's not just you and your kind?"

"Well, you and your kind exist don't you?"

Dibble felt a resounding joy in his chest, "so there are more than just me and you out there?"

"The universe is very expansive, it's beyond me how you think there is only humans and my kind in the universe."

"Okay… What is your kind?"

The alien's antenna twitched as a proud smile formed on his face, "my kind are called Irken. We're an elite race."

Dibble nodded his understanding then bit on the edge of the pen he had with the notebook.

"What are you doing on Earth?"

The irken's antenna flew up at this before pushing back down lower than they were before. He looked nervous, or maybe sad?

"I'm on vacation," he gave a small smile. It looked kinda like a smile Vinn gave his dad when the professor saw him giving the kids cookies before bed.

Dibble just accepted it at face value.

"Okay, last question: what's your name?"

The irken perked up again, "My drones call me Tallest Pink, my equals call me Pink, but you, human, may call me Zim."

"Zim," Dibble repeated the name in a soft whisper. 

"Okay! I'm Dib!" He held out a tiny hand, the alien seemed confused by this.

"Um, grab my hand with your's," Zim complied gently taking the hand in front of him, "Now move your hand up and down, like this."

Dibble moved his hand up and down; not too loosely, just like his dad showed him.

"That's how humans introduce themselves."

"I see…"

Zim's eyes stared into Dibble's as he let go of the small hand.

"You're a very cute human aren't you?"

Dibble furrowed his brow at this, "I guess."

"I'd say you're about 3 foot 9. You wouldn't take much room in my voot cruiser."

Zim thought silently for a moment, "I think you'd make a nice souvenir for when I'm gone. Definitely a cute pet, kinda like a puppy to humans."

Who knows, maybe after training he could become a great invader. Zim leaned down and smiled at the tiny child, "Would you like to go into space with me?"

Dibble gasped then squealed. "Yes! That's like my lifelong dream!"

"Okay, but before I let you come with me I'm going to have to leave a mark on you so no one, irken or otherwise, messes with you."

"Okay, that's fine!" Dibble said in a rush.

Zim's pak opened and a long spindly leg emerged it's end glowing bright red with some kind of emblem, "this will hurt for a second, but then it'll be over."

Dibble scooted back nervously until his back hit a wall. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"Like an injection?" His voice sounded so much smaller and his words shook.

"Yes, like an injection."

Zim's hand clamped over Dibble's mouth again as he pressed the brand to his belly.


	4. Chapter 4

It was held there for maybe three seconds before Zim pulled away as fast as possible.

"I'm so sorry tiny human, I'm so sorry," Zim pulled Dibble's small shaking body against his own chest. He brushed his fingers through his hair as he tried to soothe the boy. He purred and nuzzled and clicked, trying to let the boy know how sorry he was. Dibble's sniffles were quiet as he tried to calm himself, Zim was grateful for that.

"You're gonna be okay," Zim murmured as he pressed the boy's face against his chest.

Dibble wanted to ask what happened now, but a familiar terrified wail made his voice catch.

"Dibble!?" The voice of Vinn cut through the school loud and fearful. It wasn't right, it was too high pitched, too raspy. It was screamed like he was in a cave with a paranormal being edging nearer to him: on the verge of tears and close to vomiting.

Dibble felt fear surge through his body as his arms and legs began to shake. Zim gripped Dibble tighter as the boy tried to leave. 

"Where are you going?" His voice was a panicked whisper as Dibble pushed against the irken's hands.

He grabbed Zim's face between his palms and looked him in the eyes, "I have to check on Vinn. He sounds scared."

Zim looked like he wanted to protest but the sound of heavy boots hitting water and tile fell in the air around them. Without another word Dibble squirmed out of Zim's grasp and slammed his small body against the door. Zim tried to grab him before the door opened completely, but he was grabbed by someone else.

"Dibble! Where were you?" The man grabbed the small human and pulled him against his wiry frame.

"I'm sorry Vinn…" Dibble sniffled raising his hand to wipe the dampness around his eyes.

Zim leaned out the closet a bit to get a better look at this new human. This 'Vinn' and his Dib could have been clones of each other. Did all humans have a bigger version of themselves?

"Look, all that matters is that you're okay," the larger human picked up Dib into his arms. Zim's antenna felt like someone had grabbed them and run their fingers down them. The sound of that human's voice was delicious on his antenna.

He cursed himself for branding Dib instead of waiting for this taller human. Dib was cute, and he was already Zim's, not to mention part of Zim wanted to see his small human become a great invader, but this human was something else.

 

The tall human, Vinn, walked Dib and another small human to a house. He set them both down on the couch and took a towel to the girl human to dry her off. 

"Um, Vinn?" Dibble's voice spoke up.

Vinn glanced at him then turned his attention back to drying the girl, "what's up?"

Zim felt his squeedlyspooch leap in his throat. His little invader to be wouldn't do anything that could expose him right?

"Since we had such a terrible day at school, could we get pizza for dinner to make up for it?" 

Vinn gave knowing smile, "sure Dibble."

The tall human walked into the kitchen leaving the small humans in the living room. Zim pressed down on the urge to follow him and instead used his pak legs to pull him onto the roof.

He set a communication device down in front of him, he should really have been doing this at his base, but he didn't want to leave his Dib and that odd Vinn just yet.

The device flickered to life as Tallest Red and Purple picked up the transmission.

"Pink, how's it going are you safe are you okay?" Red's voice cut through the still clearing static of his signal.

"Yes I'm fine, and I've found an interesting human I would like to keep. He's a bit smaller than an average irken height, but he should grow that extra foot in a few years. Then I think I would like to put him in training to become an invader."

Red and Purple share a look then turn back to the transmission. Red cleared his throat, "that's entirely up to you Pink… So, what did you learn about that planet?"

"Oh so many things Red!" Zim replied his antenna perking, "these humans come in two sizes, there are tall ones and small ones. The tall ones are still the ones who lead, it seems each tall human is assigned a small one, or several small ones to mentor. It's very odd. In fact, my own human, Dib, has a tall human looking after him, but this tall human looks like him. It's like the humans were trying to make two Dibs of differing size."

Red squinted one of his eyes, "but they're an exact replica?"

Zim shifted a bit where he sat, "not an exact replica. The taller human, Vinn they call him, his eyes are darker on his bottom lids. He also has sharper facial features, stronger jawline, nose, and cheekbones. His ears have these weird jewels in them humans call 'earrings'. Also, he seems to be growing hair on his face."

The two on the other end make sounds of confusion. "... Hair on his face?" Purple asked.

"So like, he's furry?" Red added.

Zim shook his head, "no he... Hold on."

He dropped from the roof and looked in the kitchen, his eyes darted around the room until he saw Vinn on the phone. He was fixing the top half of his shirt as he spoke on the device pressed between his shoulder and ear. Zim's eyes grew wide, he sucked in a breath, and his antennae shot up. Vinn was unbuttoning the top half of his shirt. He took a dish towel and used it to dry his bare chest. Zim lifted a shaky hand and started taking pictures, his finger rapidly pressed down on the button again and again. His squeedlyspooch pounded faster in his body, the more pictures he took. After a few too many pictures, he realized what he was doing and climbed back onto the roof.

"Pink! There you- uh, are you okay? Your face is really dark," it was Purple who greeted him and pointed out his embarrassing flush.

"Yeah, I'm fine, um, here are a few pictures of the human, Vinn."

He sent them the few images where his shirt was completely on that he managed to take. Purple and Red made sounds of realization. "I get it now," Red stated, "yep, that's face hair. Well good work Pink, we'll talk again when you're further on your way to conquering… What was it? Earth? Yeah Earth. We'll talk again then." Zim gave a salute then cut the transmission.

"That Vinn is... interesting. I'll be sure to keep an eye on him."


	5. Chapter 5

Dib walked back to the living room where the two kids were. The TV was on Mysterious Mysteries, sounds from Gaz's game slave were mingling with the sounds from the TV. Dib walked to the couch and swiped the towel off Gaz's head, he began drying his own hair and torso with it.

He looked to his younger self who's eyes were glued to the screen of the TV. Dib quirked an eyebrow.

"Dibble, how did you manage to stay completely dry?"

Dibble made a small questioning sound as he turned to Dib. For once, his attention pried away from his favorite show. Then, the boy looked nervous, he pulled his collar and adjusted his glasses, "what do you mean?"

Dib was never a very good liar, his main strategy was to play dumb, but that usually worked as well as flat out lying. His dad sat him down once and told him: "fun fact: you'd have an easier time playing dumb if you were actually dumb. Learn how to lie Dib."

He never forgot that day, he still couldn't find his wig.

"Dibble, you're hiding something."

The boy drew in a breath then turned back to the screen. "I'd rather not talk about it."

The three continued in silence. Dib was nearly asleep when the doorbell rang. He jolted up, his glasses askew, and walked to the door.

"Ye-" four pizza boxes were abruptly shoved into his hands. He looked up to try and make eye contact with the person, but just as his eyes darted upward his glasses were taken from the bridge of his nose.

"Um… Did you just take my glasses?"

Zim twirled them by the edge between his index finger and thumb, "Well of course human, if they fell you would be blind…"

"But I am blind, I think I can carry stuff and wear glasses at the same time. In fact, I'm better at carrying stuff while wearing glasses." He squinted at the man in his home, the blob that he was looked green.

"Well, you're holding those just fine without your glasses right now," Zim folded the glasses and placed them on his collar.

Dibble finally looked up from where he was sitting. He smiled and ran over to Vinn's side.

"Dibble is that you?" Dib asked upon hearing footsteps approach. Dibble nodded before realizing he couldn't see, "Yes, Vinn." The boy had two pizza boxes pushed into his hands, "Can you help me with this?"

"Oh, don't worry Vinn we'll get it for you, Gaz, can you get over here?" The little girl begrudgingly set down her game and took the other two boxes Dib was holding.

They left with the boxes while Dib turned his attention back to the Bloaty's Blob. "What do I owe you?... And give me my glasses back."

Zim chewed on his lip then herded Vinn to the couch.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Vinn protested, he actually shoved an elbow up narrowly missing Zim's face, "You are the most bad tempered customer I've ever had to deal with."

He plopped Vinn on the couch while Gaz and Dibble entered the room. Upon seeing the image laid out before them, they began to laugh some. Dibble pushed a chair from the dining room under Zim as he moved to sit catching the alien before he fell. Zim gave Dibble a smile and ruffled his hair.

"Bloaty's whatever is doing a thing right now. It's like one of those things where fast food corporations try to make humans all into exercise, but we're taking surveys of our customers physical well being," Zim lied through a sly smile.

Dibble and Gaz sat on the couch at Vinn's sides. 

"C'mon Vinn, it could be fun," Dibble pleaded at his right. 

"It could be funny," Gaz snorted at his left.

"My suffering isn't fun or funny. Fine, go ahead, uhh, what did you say your name was?"

"Zim, what's yours?" Vinn cocked his eyebrow at Zim, the alien pulled his collar suddenly feeling very nervous under Vinn's intense stare.

"... Vinn…"

Zim's smile widened near maniacal. He felt oddly light headed.

"Vinn," he repeated, his voice gone raspy and his eyelids drooped ever so slightly.

He cleared his throat, "Okay then."

Zim grabbed both of Vinn's ankles and pulled him until his butt was on Zim's lap, one of his legs propped on the back of the chair the other hanging off. His back was still pressed on the couch, he was using his elbow to prop himself up.

"How tall would you say you are?"

Zim pulled out measuring tape and pulled it along the length of one of Vinn's legs, then wrapped it around his calf.

"6 feet," Vinn replied, it seemed he was trying to keep his composure. However, he was quickly losing it. That was what Zim needed: Vinn's feeble mind to be so confused and disoriented he wouldn't notice the burning of his brand.

"Alrighty good to know. I'm 6 foot 6 by the way. I love long walks on the beaches and whatever garbage drinks they sell at Buck's Star." He spoke fast while unwinding the measuring tape from his calf and looping it around Vinn's forehead.

"You mean Starbucks?" Vinn gasped exasperated.

"Whatever you want to call it Vinn. Now how much did you say you weigh?"

"You didn't ask me that," Vinn pulled the measuring tape away from his eyes trying to scoot into a sitting position.

Zim pulled him back again, "I'm asking you now."

"160 pounds."

"160? Whoa, I can lift you up super easy, see?" Three tentacles shot out of his pack, two lifted Vinn up by his sides while the third stayed near his stomach. Zim lifted Vinn's shirt up, his third tentacle ready to burn when he stopped. Vinn already had a brand, it was a bright hot-pink symbol, so it was obviously one of his.

Suddenly, the heel of Vinn's boot connected with Zim's jaw. The kids who were laughing at the display previously had gone deathly quiet.

Zim stood up to his full height, his pak's tentacles coming around himself and closer to Vinn. The glasses that were hooked onto his collar were gone, instead resting in Vinn's hands, "... Please don't touch my stomach."

He unfolded the glasses and placed them back on his eyes.

His eyes widened, pupils shrinking in response.

"What are you?"


End file.
